Last week, the Lexington Herald-Leader eliminated 13 positions, leaving the century-old newspaper with one of the smallest staffs in its history.
According to a report by WKYT, the cuts included journalists covering state politics and health, Lexington city government, Eastern Kentucky and the newspaper's Frankfort press corps.
Think about that for a moment.
An Eastern Kentucky-focused reporter is gone.
Reporters whose job was to watch government are gone.
And this isn't happening because Kentucky suddenly has less news to cover.
Quite the opposite.
There are still city councils making decisions. Fiscal courts spending taxpayer dollars. Police agencies conducting investigations. School boards setting policies. Businesses opening and closing. Families struggling. People succeeding. Communities changing.
The news didn't disappear.
The people being paid to report it are disappearing.
There is an uncomfortable truth we need to talk about
McClatchy Media, the Herald-Leader's parent company, reportedly said the status quo no longer works and that it cannot continue investing in places where subscriber interest does not support that investment.
That statement should get the attention of anyone who cares about local journalism.
Because journalism costs money.
That sounds obvious, but somewhere along the way the internet conditioned us to believe news should simply appear on our phones for free.
Reporting isn't free.
Someone has to attend the meeting.
Someone has to make the phone calls.
Someone has to ask the uncomfortable questions.
Someone has to file the Open Records Request.
Someone has to read through the documents when they arrive.
Someone has to follow up when government agencies don't answer.
Someone has to verify the Facebook rumor before publishing it as fact.
And someone has to sit down and turn all of that information into something the public can understand.
Whether that person works for a century-old newspaper or a small independent publication like The Morehead Minute, the basic economics are the same.
If readers want journalism to exist, eventually readers have to help pay for journalism.
"Someone else will cover it"
That's becoming a dangerous assumption.
For generations, communities could reasonably expect several news organizations to be watching.
A newspaper reporter might attend the fiscal court meeting. A television reporter might investigate a major crime. Another reporter might spend weeks digging into government records.
Those newsrooms are shrinking.
And when a reporter disappears, the government meeting doesn't stop.
The spending doesn't stop.
The arrests don't stop.
The controversies don't stop.
Only the person watching them disappears.
Lexington Fourth District Council Member Emma Curtis made an important observation in the WKYT report: elected officials themselves should want journalists watching them and holding them accountable.
She's right.
A healthy community needs somebody sitting on the other side of the table asking, "Why?"
That's why The Morehead Minute exists
The Morehead Minute was never intended to replace every newspaper, television station or reporter covering Eastern Kentucky.
We couldn't if we wanted to.
But it exists because there are stories in Rowan County and the surrounding region that deserve attention.
Sometimes they're major stories.
Sometimes they're things that would otherwise never make television.
Sometimes they're buried in government documents.
Sometimes somebody sends us a tip and says, "You might want to look into this."
And sometimes we ask questions that aren't particularly convenient for the people being asked.
That's local journalism.
It doesn't require a giant newsroom or a printing press.
But it does require support.
A subscription isn't just buying articles
When you purchase a subscription to a local news publication, you're not simply buying access to today's story.
You're helping make tomorrow's story possible.
You're helping ensure somebody can spend the time investigating something rather than ignoring it because investigating it doesn't generate enough money to justify the work.
You're helping maintain an independent set of eyes on the institutions that affect your life.
And you're helping preserve something communities across America are rapidly losing:
their own journalists.
That doesn't mean everyone has to subscribe to The Morehead Minute.
Support the local journalism you value.
Subscribe to your local newspaper.
Support independent journalists.
Support nonprofit news organizations.
And yes, if you believe the work we're doing at The Morehead Minute is valuable, become a paid subscriber.
Because sharing an article helps.
Liking a Facebook post helps.
Sending us a news tip helps.
Reading every morning helps.
But none of those things pays the bills required to keep a news organization operating.
Don't wait until it's gone
Perhaps the saddest thing about the Herald-Leader story is hearing journalists wonder whether they'll even be able to remain in Kentucky and continue doing the work they love.
We shouldn't wait until another newsroom closes before deciding journalism mattered.
We shouldn't wait until nobody attends the meeting.
We shouldn't wait until nobody files the records request.
We shouldn't wait until nobody asks the question.
And we shouldn't wait until our only source of "local news" is whatever somebody happened to post on Facebook.
The future of local journalism really is at stake.
Its survival won't ultimately be decided by journalists.
It will be decided by communities.
And the question every community—including ours—has to answer is remarkably simple:
Is having someone watching, asking questions and telling our stories worth supporting?
We believe it is.
— The Morehead Minute
